Gavin de Becker Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Gavin De Becker
Gavin de Becker was born October 26, 1954 and is the son of Hal de Becker, an American dancer and prolific writer about dance. He’s an American billionaire, and has worked as a writer and a security specialist, primarily for large corporations, governments, and public figures.

Gavin describes his childhood as being mired in violence. His parents got divorced when he was just three. His heroin addict mom physically abused Gavin and his sister, and she once shot his stepdad. When he was just 16, she committed suicide, and he then moved in with a friend from school, Miguel Ferrer, the son of actors Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer. He lived with the family for two years and went on to work with Clooney as her road manager. After that, he worked as Elizabeth Taylor’s assistant.

During the 1980s, along with the United States Marshals Service, Gavin co-designed the MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems, which is used to screen threats to members of United States Congress, justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and senior officials of the Central Intelligence Agency. Los Angeles County Law enforcement agencies adopted MOSAIC in the year 1997 in order to help police better manage and reduce spousal abuse cases which may escalate to homicide.

In 1983, he investigated a stalker for Cher, Olivia Newton-John, and Sheena Easton. Gavin also provided his services for celebrities like Jane Fonda, Joan, Rivers, Richard Burton, Dolly Parton, John Travolta, Victoria Principal, and Tina Turner.

In 1982 and 1989, he was appointed to the President’s Advisory Board at the United States Department of Justice, and he served two terms on the Governor’s Advisory Board at the California Department of Mental Health.

Gavin was an advisor for Bystander Revolution, the anti-bullying resource, senior fellow at UCLA’s School of Public Policy, and senior advisor to the Rand Corporation.

Gavin has appeared on 20/20, 60 Minutes, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, The Jordan Harbinger Show, and Waking Up (Sam Harris’ podcast) to share his philosophies about the prevention of violence. He’s also written op-ed pieces and essays for the Huffington Post, and has been profiled in Newsweek and Time magazines, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, as well as other publications.

“The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence” is a non-fiction book that was released in 1996. Unwarranted fear is a curse, while true fear is a gift. Learn how to tell the difference.

The new nanny gives a mom an uneasy feeling. A date will not take “no” for an answer. A stranger in a deserted parking lot offers up unsolicited help. The threat of violence is surrounding us each and every day. However we can protect ourselves, by learning how to trust (and act on) our gut instincts.

In this empowering book, Gavin (who Oprah has called the nation’s leading expert on violent behavior) shows you exactly how to spot even the most subtle signs of danger, before it is too late. Shattering the myth that most violent acts are unpredictable, Gavin (whose clients include top Hollywood stars and government agencies), offers specific ways you protect yourself and those that you love, including how to act whenever you get approached by a stranger, what to do if you’re being stalked, when you should fear somebody close to you. The biggest mistake that you can make with threatening a person, how to uncover the source of anonymous phone calls or threats, as well as other things. Learn to spot the danger signals that others will miss. It may just save your life.

“Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe” is a non-fiction book that was released in 1999. Warning signs of sexual abuse. Safety skills for kids outside the home. How to choose schools and screen babysitters. Strategies for keeping teens safe from violence.

All parents face the same challenges whenever it comes to their kid’s safety: whom to trust or distrust, what to doubt, what to believe, what to fear, and what to not fear. In an empowering book, Gavin offers practical new steps to enhance kids’s safety at every age level, providing you the tools that you need to let your kids have freedom without you yourself losing sleep over it. With daring and compassion, he shatters the widely held myths about safety and danger.

“Fear Less: Truth About Risk, Safety, and Security in a Time of Terrorism” is a non-fiction book that was released in 2001. De Becker answers the questions that many Americans have been asking ever since September 11th.

What is the risk of chemical or biological attack? Can air travel be safe? Can the government prevent and detect future acts? What can we do to reduce worry and fear? How can we best talk to our kids about what has happened and what may happen? What specific steps can we take in order to reduce terrorism? What could terrorists be likely to do next? Most simply, will everything be all right?

Gavin points out how just like our imaginations will put us into frightening situations, it’s now the time to put yourself in empowering situations, and time to see that we have a role to play, and contrary to a lot of TV news stories, it is not just victim-in-waiting. This book offers specific recommendations which can enhance our national security and our individual safety, and help put our fear into perspective.

“Just 2 Seconds” is a non-fiction book that was released in 2008. Think about every assassination that you have ever heard about. For many people, a few of these major ones spring to mind. Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Caesar, Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, Israel’s Prime Minister Rabin, and Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.

From beginning to end, all of these attacks combined took place in just under a minute. And the hundreds of attacks that were studied for this book, all of them combined, took place in under a half hour. These thirty minutes, certainly the most influential in world history, offer up some important insights which can help out today’s protectors defeat the attackers of tomorrow.